How I Play Live: Active Systems

Active Systems plays live with no laptop in sight: a Cirklon sequencer at the centre, four Intellijel Atlantix modules on bass duty and a 909 keeping time. After sets at Lost and Houghton and the release of The Red EP, we talk pattern-based performance, backup rigs, forced improvisation and the sorrow of a poorly played flute.

Attack: You make 99% of your music on the Cirklon. Was a hardware live set always the plan? What did you use before it, and what makes it right for you?

Active Systems: Honestly, I got my hands on a Cirklon at the perfect time. I was making most of my tracks using a pair of Minilogues, a DrumBrute Impact and a TD-3, all synced up with CV and running their own sequences internally. It was a hot mess, but I enjoyed the limitations, and decision-making was a lot different than it is now.

I also made tracks in Logic and merged them, but I knew a hardware sequencer was calling my name. I tried the BeatStep Pro, but it was janky and wouldn’t work. As soon as I saw demos and informational videos of the Cirklon, I knew for sure it was the perfect workflow for me. It has a great balance of hands-on functionality and deep capability. The UI clicked perfectly with my brain.

Your two ‘songs’ at Lost were each made up of around 100 patterns rather than composed tracks. How do you choose which patterns make the cut, and how much of the set do you improvise on the night?

Pattern selection is always trial and error. Keep what works and bin what doesn’t. The initial stage is loads of jamming with the whole setup to get used to how everything feels hooked up, then I eventually find a pocket I like.

By then, I’ve already got a few zones I can switch to and little combos of yummy basslines and chords. At some point I’ll have enough to start doing solid run-throughs, and then it’s a matter of filling holes in the set or cutting extras that aren't necessary.

With enough time to prepare I’ll have barely any space for improvisation. It’s great to be prepared, but sometimes I’m tempted to go into a set with a totally blank project. Maybe I’m out of my mind, but it could be a blast.

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Are the drum loops on your 1010 your own, or found? No shame either way, just curious.

I’d say 95% of the drum loops are ones I’ve made. Making loops is heaps of fun; I’ve spent the last couple weeks recording all sorts of stuff. Playing sets has given me a much clearer idea of the sorts of loops I want to record, and doing it myself gives me far more control over the sound. My loops also seem to fit the mix much better, but maybe that’s a mental thing…

[quote align=right text="Sometimes I’m tempted by the idea of going into a set with a totally blank project. Maybe I’m out of my mind, but it seems like it’d be a blast"]

I could list a thousand influences on The Red EP, and I’ve enjoyed it immensely. Did these tracks start life as live ideas, studio jams or more traditional compositions?

Thanks! Glad to hear it.

I made all four tracks on The Red EP fairly quickly. I like to make tracks fast so they don’t lose momentum, and each one took at most a day. I’d say I sequenced and recorded Gabbol within two hours of the start. I didn’t even give myself time to compose that one, just jammed the patterns in live – so in some way it’s a live idea. I definitely spent more time on it. Compositions like that take a lot of listening time to get everything aligned right.

What do people most often misunderstand about performing live electronic music?

I think a lot of people don’t know much of a difference between live electronic and DJing. It seems like hardware sequencers are not a common knowledge piece of equipment for most people, so often if I show someone my setup they’re like, “Oh, so you DJ?” And it’s tough to explain the difference.

If budget were no issue, what would you replace in your rig, and why?

Oof! There are so many options!

Sixteen Atlantix modules would be awesome as a live rig. Totally batshit crazy and an absolute nightmare to patch, but I think it’d be wicked. Or I’d go deep down the Cwejman road and set up loads of super high-end Eurorack stuff in a similar manner to the Atlantix. 2x 909, 2x 808? Ridiculous ideas… I’ve been looking at the Synton Fenix synths for ages now – one day I’ll get my hands on one. I feel like that’d be an awesome synth to use in a live set.

How much do you plan for things going wrong? Do you carry backup gear, as a guitarist might?

I do! For Lost I didn’t have a backup, but between then and the Houghton set I got as close as possible to a duplicate of my setup. It’s insane but very necessary. I swapped the 909 for a TR-09 or a TR-8S because buying a duplicate 909 feels absurd at this point, but everything else is pretty much the same.

What has gone wrong on stage, and what did it teach you?

At Houghton, I had a plan to switch from one project and tempo to the next song at the midpoint, which involved triggering a long sample on the 1010music Tangerine. I triggered it, and nothing played, and the file was totally gone, so I had to come up with a way to transition without my trusty samples. I started making a bunch of new patterns on the fly (terrifying but fun). I ended up using the Atlantix modules on super long envelope mode and was able to make the transition work by blasting out a load of waveforms and wobbling them while I changed projects on my sampler.

The kerfuffle taught me to always double-check everything before I make my way to the gig, and even if I find myself in the hell of forced improvisation, I can rely on my hands, my brain and my sequencer to do what needs to be done. There was a brief moment when I was enjoying the improvised zone I’d made my way into, and I was slightly disappointed that I needed to get the train back on the rails.

[quote align=right text="I can rely on my hands, my brain and my sequencer to do what needs to be done"]

Running one bassline through all four Atlantix modules is an unusual approach. How did you arrive at those voicings?

It came from jamming like crazy on the Atlantix rig. I’ve had so many different configurations with those modules, but I had one jam in particular where I was using eight modules, all on the same MIDI channel but pitched differently, like an eight-note chord with a mixer for each note… wait, actually it was more like a 16-note chord controlled by eight mixers.

I could sequence a rapid pattern with one note and then bring in other notes by hand. Or make a crazy pattern and slowly ramp up the dissonance with the mixers until it’s unbearable. Ridiculous concept. It was so much fun it felt like I could go on forever, and I knew I had to find a way to bring it into the live set.

When you blend waveforms across the modules, do some pairings hit harder than others? What do you reach for when the bassline needs to cut through?

There’s so many options! In some contexts it’s awesome to just cut everything but the sub. Then it’s super clean, direct and heavy. At other points it’s great to do the same but with a saw an octave up instead, which mellows it out a little and isn’t so aggressive.

I always love having osc B on the main bass module detuned slightly, as it gives a lot more thickness to the basslines, but it’s nice to bring it in and out. With those modules, I swear every waveform combination has its own special sauce. Ring mod triangle waves… FM squares… super resonant S+H sine… it’s a pigsty of options.

Is module 2 behind the almost dissonant melody on Maus? And can you blend or mute its oscillators when you don’t want the minor third on top?

I always find myself spending too much time nostalgically trying to go back and unravel which synth did what on which track… I just checked, and that melody on Maus is the MicroFreak. I’m always shocked that such a digital synth can feel so natural.

Regarding the Atlantix modules, yes, I can absolutely drop the other oscillators out of the mix. That’s what makes live jamming with them so fun. Although I do wish I could sequence the levels of the individual waveforms on the module’s mixer with MIDI. That’d be insane.

With so much going on, how easy is it to lose track of what’s doing what?

Ha. That’s a great question. It’s actually quite hard to get lost. Each instrument in the rig has a clear purpose in each section of the set, so generally it’s easy to tell what’s doing what. The worst is when something starts sounding weird, and it’s hard to tell exactly which part of the setup is misbehaving, or whether my ears are playing tricks on me.

On the sequencing front, it’s pretty hard for me to get lost when using the Cirklon. It’s so quick and easy to change things up, and I’ve spent so much time with it that as soon as I start to feel like I’m getting lost, my hands can do the work, and it’s easy to get back to where I need to be. The goal is generally for my mind to be one step ahead of what’s going on with the rig. As long as that’s the situation, then everything is under control.

Module 3 goes from bird sounds to DJ scratches. Has it ever taken you somewhere you didn’t want to go in front of a crowd?

Honestly, no, not yet at least! Sometimes I’ll bring in a high-frequency squawk a little too loud, but they usually do a really good job at staying in line. I was shocked at Lost when the modules travelled halfway across London, spent all night in a club waiting for the set, and somehow all eight oscillators still managed to stay in tune. Thanks, Intellijel!

You call the Rev2 ‘sometimes savage’. Is that what’s playing the huge chords on Gabbol?

Gabbol actually didn’t use very many pieces of kit. It came together pretty simply. The chords are made of flute samples I recorded a while back. Very breathy and organic. A couple of other mono synths sit on top, but the vast majority is flute. I wish I had a synth that could top the sorrow of a poorly played flute.

There’s one patch on my Rev2 that I’ve been trying to squeeze into a track for ages; it’s so savagely massive that it’s a serious challenge getting it into a composition. I used it in the final live section of my Houghton set, and it worked well; it seems much more suited to live, but I’m sure I’ll get it into a composed track soon.

[quote align=right text="I wish I had a synth that could top the sorrow of a poorly played flute."]

If not the TD-3-MO, what would be your second-choice acid synth?

The TT-303 is next up in my roster. I used it at my Houghton set, and it has a very different character than the TD-303. It’s more of a classic 303 sound but doesn’t have as much range as the MO. I’m pretty torn between the two right now. I tried the TB-03 again recently, and that one just doesn’t do it for me. No auto-glide over MIDI?! If only they could just remake the 303… with MIDI CCs…

How long does it take to prepare the rig for an hour-long set, and what does that involve?

Aside from the initial stage of deciding what’s going on the rig, it takes a couple of weeks. Get everything powered, hook up the MIDI, cut the cables as short as possible, cable-tie everything down, and come up with workarounds for every possible thing that could go wrong.

Beyond the reverb and delay on the Soundcraft, do you process anything before it reaches front of house?

The only other processing I do is EQing on the Soundcraft. It’s pretty bog standard. I’m always tempted to send the stereo track out into an effect unit, or even a crazy signal chain full of Eurorack effects and controllers, but the logistics are a nightmare. A lot of potential for things going awry. One day I’ll explore it.

How do you handle monitoring with this much gear, and how do you keep it consistent from night to night? Do you travel with an engineer?

I have a lot of faith in my gear and my engineer. The machines usually stay in line and tend to be reliable creatures. If there’s inconsistency, it’s usually human error. Generally, monitoring is easy as long as everything is in tune, but I do have a small crew of guys that help with a lot of the logistics and transport. My main engineer is called Andy and is a lifesaver.

What advice would you give a reader building their first hardware-only live set?

Run far, far, far away… Become a cobbler. Nah, just kidding, get involved; it’s wicked!

My advice is don’t force it. Find the gear that’s right for you and use it like crazy. If it makes sense to get a laptop involved, then use one. Or get a sequencer and spend so much time on it that it’d be ridiculous to expect anything but success.

Active Systems The Red EP is out now. Listen on Spotify.

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